The claws are out in a Brooklyn cat-napping case.
A borough woman who allegedly stole a beloved cat from a bodega was arraigned on petty larceny charges – and then furiously insisted Wednesday she was an “animal lover” who was unfairly arrested.
“I’m going to sue them for accusing me of stealing,” Mary Sierra told The Post after being released on her own recognizance.
“I’m an animal lover. I got three rescue dogs,” she said. “I went to jail yesterday for this s—t. I went to jail! They locked me up, they locked me up for this s—t. I did not steal the f—ing cat.”
The three-month-old kitten was nabbed from 8th St. Mini Mart in Park Slope on Thursday, with surveillance video capturing two people walking away with the cat.
Despite saying she wasn’t guilty of the charges, she did admit to The Post that she took the cat.
“That store wasn’t open at 7 a.m. I saw the cat four houses away and picked up the cat and I took him home with me,” she said.
However, neighbors convinced Sierra and her companion to return Jabal despite her initial reluctance to do so, warning her that the kitten was someone’s pet, not a stray cat on the streets.
Sierra eventually decided to return the cat — whether out of compassion or fear of being charged–– but rather than doing so herself, she had her stepson deliver the kitten to the 78th Precinct stationhouse on Tuesday.
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Police then took Sierra into custody, and she was arraigned later in the day on charges of petty larceny, criminal possession of stolen property and “companion animal stealing,” according to a criminal complaint.
The last charge is a violation under state Agriculture and Markets Law, which makes it illegal “to remove or cause to be removed” a dog or cat or to take ID tags from the animals.
Sierra was released without bail.
Jabal’s owner, Imad “Jimmy” Innab, was thrilled to have the kitten back.
However, Sierra maintains she’s being railroaded.
“It’s embarrassing, because everybody knows I didn’t steal the f—ing cat,” she told The Post.
